Pink Panthers wear down Pride

The Lake Oswego Soccer Club Pink Panthers earned another win on Saturday, June 9th, at Horizon Christian High School in Tualatin. They started slow, but finished with a 6-0 victory over the Keizer Soccer Club Pride, in a u13/14 girls' Mid Valley Soccer League match.

The Pink Panthers didn't put their game faces on until about 25 minutes into game time. At 27 minutes, their regrouped focus proved effective -- when forward, Rylee Whited received a cross near the front of the opponent's goal, directed a short pass back to mid-fielder, Allie Potter, who punched the ball past the Pride keeper for the first goal of the match. Three minutes later, Whited received a pass from mid-fielder Ellie Grimes, and she worked by a Pride defender and pounded in goal number two.

The second half was all Pink Panthers. They played great team defense, led by Anna Hicks, Avery Lytle and Allie Slingsby -- who kept the Pride offense off balance and unable to get any quality shots on goal. Panther keepers, Molly Eby, Katie Stell and Whited combined for the shut-out -- the fifth for the Panthers, and their 3rd in a row. The Pink Panthers also mixed up their field, enabling the girls to test new positions.

Second half scoring started with forward, Emily Bell playing clean-up on a hard shot by mid-fielder Annie Ferris; the Pride goalie couldn't keep hold and Bell, instinctively in rebound position, put just enough touch on the ball to push it gently into the net. Whited earned her second goal after securing the ball near midfield and outrunning the Pride defenders to boot in the fourth Panther goal. Katie Stell, playing forward, put in score number five, fighting for possession near the left of the goalie box, and driving a left-footed shot into the net, for her first goal of the season. The final tally went up after mid-fielder, Libby Hornecker pushed the ball towards the Pride goal, where Allie Slingsby, playing forward, gathered it up, worked around the defenders and bent a beauty of a left-footed shot into the left corner of the goal; her first goal of the season.

The Pink Panthers (6-1-1) head into the Mid Valley Soccer League playoffs as the second seed. They will play Dallas United on Saturday, June 16th in Keizer for a chance to play in the finals on Sunday.